We have just returned from an afternoon out which, as is often the case, was filled with little incidents and photo moments that make outings here interesting.
Mind you last evening was more interesting again as Northern Thailand was shaken by a 5.8 earthquake. Centred closer to Chiang Rai it was still enough to make our house sway several feet in each direction, which I had put down to the couple of Thai whiskeys I had consumed earlier. Evidently not.
Now that’s what I call a pothole.
Back to the topic.The purpose for our expedition was threefold. Firstly I wanted to re-visit a good coffee place, secondly I was looking forward to have a beer and some very tasty moneybags at a little restaurant I had been to before and lastly we were to go shoe shopping for Gaun at a local market.
The area we headed to is about 20 minutes from home off the 107 as you head out of Chiang Mai, inside the Superhighway.
Our destination is off to the left of this view. I mainly included this Google shot to give you an idea of what one of the main feeder roads in Chiang Mai looks like.
The only reason I know of this area is that friends of mine Gina and Andy visited us over the Christmas period and their hotel was situated here. After several attempts to locate it we had almost become locals and I had noted several attractions to explore further.
Our first stop was for coffee at One Place. This is a little cafe overlooking a busy and fairly typical Thai city street. Not where you’d go for atmosphere or to relax but great for people watching. They also make an excellent coffee and have won awards for their barista skills. Consistently not hot enough for my liking despite asking for “ron muk muk” or very, very hot, but the coffee itself is hard to beat.
Excellent coffee here.
The street view. You could sit there all day and just photograph the different configurations and characters on motorbikes.
Small but neat. Run by these two ladies.
A small outside veranda area.
Always happy with a good coffee to hand.
Being off the main tourist route and pretty small-time drinks are cheaper here than say Biscotti – post HERE. The coffee was $1.30 and Gaun’s iced green tea $1.60.
Yum.
Next stop was Nu’s Place a few hundred meters down the same road. As it was only 3.00 pm I didn’t feel like a meal but I do recommend the moneybags here if you feel like something to munch on. Their main meals are a mixture of farang and Thai. The Trip Advisor link is HERE.
A basic open air Thai restaurant with the ever present TV in the background.
Food porn. Moneybags – excellent too. The little green ties are edible.
The total cost of a large Chang beer shared between two and these two dishes of moneybags $5.00!
Gaun wanted some new sneakers to replace some worn out shoes and the local markets here have a big shoe shop choice so this was the next stop.
Walking there we passed this Thai bar street. It is a noisy and happening place at night but all shut up during the day. If you fancy Thai music this would be a place to visit late evening for a truly local experience.
Waiting for night-time.
A shoe shoppers delight. This is actually a full local market so includes the full range of small shops as well as a food market of course.
I was tempted by the black and white spotted ones but when would I wear them?
A radio control model shop for the blokes to browse while the little woman goes shoe shopping.
Shoes go with clothes and there are plenty of choice for them too. I have no idea when Thai women wear these as they are surprisingly conservative generally. Mind you a lot of clothes are geared towards the ladyboy population who are less modest in a dress sense.
Stop that Gaun.
The days here in May are mostly sunny mornings, becoming overcast in the afternoon and then building to thunder storms late afternoon/early evening. Today was no exception and we got a brief rain burst just as we were leaving the markets. We took shelter under an roof overhang to wait it out. Thai friendliness was evident as a lady was sitting outside her closed shop and invited me to use her seat rather than the curb and then got chatty with Gaun. She wanted a farang photo shot. It is hard to be lonely here.
Me and my new mate.
Sitting around enabled me to take a few photos of Thais on motorbikes using different strategies to cope with the rain.
The thin plastic cape makes an immediate appearance.
Some just get caught out.
The umbrella on bike approach always seems like wishful thinking to me.
Post-rain we got back to the car and headed home. Chiang Mai has so many hidden sights if you keep an eye open when driving, especially on the back-roads. On the way back to the main road I had to stop several times to capture little points of interest such as this Wat and stupa. The stupa looked old and was probably out in the fields at some point in history. Surrounded by suburbs now.
The rather pleasant entrance to the Wat.
Wat Chang Som
The stupa.
Gaun being Gaun.
Little Sois branch off the main Soi. You could spend ages exploring all these options.
A San Phra Phum or spirit house sitting on the side of the road. How long would something like this last in the open in Australia? Vandals would destroy it the first night.
If you haven’t read my blog post on San Phra Phum then this is your chance. Click HERE.
Some building work happening. These are the little bricks Thais use to infill the concrete skeleton of so many structures both small and large.
You can see these bricks being used in a house construction in this blog post HERE.
We hit the Chiang Mai rush hour so the trip home was slow. My final picture isn’t as good as I hoped. By the time I got my camera the view was partly blocked. It was a photo moment that just appealed to me.
This lady is on a green Kawasaki Ninja motorbike, which is a pretty gutsy piece of machinery. Note the pink footwear. Somehow this is so Thai.
So there you have it. Nothing momentous but a taste of how this farang fills in time here.
P.S. We didn’t end up buying shoes for Gaun but I got a pair and they weren’t those black and white high heel ones I hasten to add.
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